A Big Argument
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: Nick and Jackie get into a rare argument, the big D word is even mentioned. Find out if the couples' marriage survives. This is my first multi chapter story in a long time so I hope it's good! I would love your thoughts!
1. Chapter 1

**A Big Argument**

"Mrs. Stokes?"

Jackie looked up from her desk in her classroom and saw one of her little students standing there with his coat on as a tear slid down his face. Her class was out at recess and since she didn't have recess duty Jackie was using the free time to finish grading some worksheets she had neglected for a couple days. She wanted to finish them so she wouldn't have to take them home tonight because that evening Nick and she had dinner reservations at a nice restaurant, and then after that they were going to go see a movie.

"What's wrong Dayton?" Jackie asked.

"I think I broke my arm." The little boy said as he moved his am back and forth and side to side.

Jackie managed to suppress a smile.

"Sweetie if it was broken I don't think you would be able to move it like that." She said with a comforting smile.

"I know it's broken, I think I should go to the doctor and have a Z-ray on it."

Again Jackie suppressed a smile

"I think you mean an X-ray." She said.

"Yeah, that's what I mean." Dayton said shaking his head vigorously.

Jackie sighed inwardly, she really wanted to finish grading those papers but she knew her students were more important then going to a movie, but she really wanted that date night with Nick, the last two that the couple had planned had been canceled because Nick was needed last minute at the lab. She tried to think of a way to be caring to the little boy who was still staring at her with his big blue eyes and still be able to go with Nick later that evening.

"Dayton, did you finish coloring your pet picture this morning?" she asked.

"Nope" he said.

"Ok, then how about you come sit down at your desk and finish coloring it, and I'll grab you an ice pack that you can put on your arm while you work?"

"Ok" he said happily.

Jackie smiled, her idea had been successful.

"Ok, take your coat off and hang it up." She said as she opened the tiny refrigerator that she kept in her classroom.

In the refrigerator there was two ice packs for her students for when they get hurt as well as a couple sodas and some string cheese for her to snack on throughout the day if she got hungry. Dayton took his coat off and sat down and so Jackie brought him the ice pack. He put it on his arm and then began to color his picture in silence. Jackie smiled as she returned to her desk and continued to grade the papers. Jackie had made progress with the worksheets by the time her students came in from recess but she didn't get them completely finished, and after recess the students only had a few minutes before they went home. Normally Jackie would be able to finish the worksheets when her students went home but today her baby boy Houston had a check up with his pediatrician that she had to take him too. Jackie read her students a book and then had them get ready to go home.

After her last student had left for the day she hurriedly straightened up her classroom, put the ungraded worksheets in a folder, put the folder in her briefcase so she could take them home to finish and then she left the school and headed to her parent's house to pick up Houston and her little girl Jasmine.

The doctor's appointment went very well, Houston was developing right on schedule. When they were driving home Jasmine spotted the ice cream shop.

"I ceem." She said happily.

"Sorry Sweetie, not today." Jackie said.

"Pees" Jasmine said.

Jackie sighed "Alright" she mumbled as she pulled into the ice cream shop parking lot.

After Jasmine had eaten her ice cream Jackie and the two kids headed home.

"Hi" Nick said when she came through the door.

"Hi" she said tiredly.

"Bad day?" he asked.

"No, just long." She said.

"How did Houston's appointment go?" He asked.

"Good, he's right where he should be."

"That's good" Nick said with a smile.

She returned the smile and then said. "Nicky listen, I'm really sorry but I think we'll have to rain check our evening, I have papers to finish grading, and I'm tired."

"Oh come on babe, I already made reservations at Lampman's for 6 o'clock." Nick said.

"I know, I'm sorry" she said.

"Please, we haven't gotten to do this for a while." He said.

"I know" she said feeling guilty.

"So are we going?" he asked with a smile.

"Honey I really have to finish those papers, I promised my students I would have them done by tomorrow."

"So tell them you accidently forgot them at home, finish them tomorrow night and bring them in the next day."

"You want me to lie to a bunch of six year olds, Nick that's terrible."

"They'll never know, I doubt very much they'll be traumatized if you don't have those papers done by tomorrow."

Jackie gave him a dirty look and crossed her arms.

"Ok ok, how about if you tell them you just couldn't get them done and bring them cookies to make up for it?"

"What?" she asked confused.

"There are two unopened bags of cookies on the cupboard, bring them in for treats, they'll forget all about those papers." He said with a grin.

Jackie sighed "I'd like to do that but I promised them, I can't go back on my word now. If they tell me they are going to do something, I expect them to do it, they should be able to expect the same out of me." She said as she grabbed the folder out of her briefcase and carried it to the kitchen table. After grabbing a pen out of the drawer she sat down and began to grade the papers.

"So that's it, we aren't going?" Nick asked, as his voice grew a little angry. "I guess not, I'm sorry." She said with a sigh as she turned her attention back to the worksheets.

"I can't believe you, why do you always have to be such a work-aholic?" He demanded.

Jackie set her pen down on the table and glared at him.

"How dare you call me that. How many date nights have we had to cancel because _you _had an emergency at the lab. How many times have I gotten a phone call in the morning saying that _you_ have to pull a double, how many times right in the middle of us trying to be intimate have _you_ gotten a phone call and had to leave. I'll tell you how many, too many to count that's how many. Most women would not put up with her husband's incredibly attractive female boss calling him in the middle of the night saying _Nicky, I need you at work _but I have never said a word about it, so don't you dare go accusing me of being a work-aholic." She said angrily.

Nick opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off

"No, you know what, don't say anything, if you want to go so bad, I'll go." She said as she got up out of her chair and marched up the stairs in a huff.

She went upstairs and put on her cute black dress and her high heels. Then she combed her hair and brushed her teeth. She then got the two children ready. After she had placed Houston in his car seat and buckled him in she went to the kitchen table and grabbed her folder.

"What are you doing with those?" He asked.

"I'm taking them with me, I'd rather finish grading them then look at your face all night." She said.

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Jackie, will you talk to me, please?" Nick asked as he and Jackie sat at a table in the fancy restaurant.

Jackie wouldn't even look at him, she just kept her head down as she graded the papers. She ignored him as she drew a star on the top of one of the papers, indicating that the student had gotten all the answers correct.

"Would you like something to drink?" the waitress asked.

Jackie looked up from her papers "I'll have a diet coke." She said with a smile.

"I'll have a glass of wine please." Nick mumbled.

"Ok I'll be right back with those." The waitress said and then hurried off.

"Jackie, come on, can't we at least talk about this?" Nick asked again.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you say something?" Jackie asked sarcastically, pretending as if she hadn't heard a word he said.

"Yeah, I said we should talk." Nick said as he tried very hard to not get angry.

"That's not what I wanted to hear from you, so as far as I am concerned this conversation is over." She said as she looked at him coldly.

Her usually warm and kind eyes showed anger.

Nick sighed, "Look we never fight, and when we do get in minor disagreements we are always able to talk it out."

Jackie looked back down at her papers "8 + 7 =15" she mumbled as she continued to grade the papers.

Nick gave up, he didn't say anything else, what was the point of speaking when she wasn't listening to a word he said. They ate their dinner in stone silence. Jackie mainly just stared out the window and when she did look at him there was an angry glare in her eyes. After dinner Nick just decided to go home instead of going to the movie, the couple hadn't said a word to each other since Nick tried unsuccessfully to get her to talk to him at the restaurant and when he asked her if she still wanted to go to the movie she had simply shrugged her shoulders, she didn't even bother giving him a yes or no answer.

"I can not believe you are so stubborn." Nick said as they were driving home.

"And I can't believe you are such a horse's ass." Jackie spat angrily back at him.

Nick bit his tongue, he didn't want to say something that he would regret later.

"Drop me off at the coffee shop by our house." Jackie said.

"No, how will you get home?" He asked.

"I'll walk." She said coldly.

"Are you nuts, I'm not letting you walk home by yourself in the dark." He said.

"Just drop me off, I will find a way home." She insisted.

"No" he said.

"Nicholas, let me out of this truck NOW." She said with her voice barely below a yell as they started to pass the coffee shop.

"Fine" he said as he pulled the truck into the parking lot.

She unbuckled her seat belt, grabbed her folder, got out of the car and slammed the truck door behind her. He watched her until she was safely inside and then drove off angrily.

"Hi Jackie." The woman at the counter said cheerfully when she walked in.

Jackie was in the coffee shop frequently and most of the people that worked there knew her by name.

"Hi Lacy." Jackie said, pretending to be happy as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Jackie ordered her usual drink and then sat down. She graded a couple more of the papers before Lacy brought her the drink.

"Thank you" she said as she took a sip.

Lacy smiled and then returned to the counter.

Jackie sipped the coffee slowly as if drinking it would make the fight she had just had with Nick disappear.

After relaxing for a few minutes she finished grading the papers. As she slipped the now graded papers in the folder a single tear slid down her cheek.

"Jackie" a concerned voice said.

Jackie looked up and saw Catherine Willows standing there.

"Hi Catherine." Jackie said as she quickly wiped the tear off of her face.

"What's wrong?" Catherine asked.

"Oh nothing, it's just been a long day that's all" Jackie lied.

Catherine looked at Jackie's outfit, a slimming black dress and high heels seemed a tad overdressed for a coffee shop.

"I thought you had a dinner date with Nick?" Catherine asked tentatively.

"We did but we got into a fight." Jackie said quietly.

Catherine was more then a little shocked to hear that, the couple never fought. Nick and Jackie had the best, most stable and loving marriage of any couple Catherine had ever known.

"About what?" Catherine asked with surprise in her voice as she sat down in the chair across from Jackie.

"He actually had the nerve to call me a workaholic." Jackie said as anger once again flashed in her eyes.

"Really? We work the longest hours of anyone I know." Catherine said.

"That's exactly what I told him. Can you believe that ass?" Jackie said.

Catherine suppressed a smile, Jackie rarely cursed, and when she did it certainly wasn't because of Nick.

"I'm sorry you guys got into a fight, trust me, I know how it feels, but I'm sure you and Nick will work it out soon, you guys are the most loving couple I know, but if not there is always option B." Catherine said.

"You mean Nick and I could get a divorce right?" Jackie asked.

To Be Continued…..

**Note: I've decided to not write Catherine out of my stories, in my stories I am going to pretend she is still on the show and that nothing has changed, if you don't want me to do that send me a personal message and let me know and I will consider changing my mind.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"No, what I meant was I will kick Nicky's ass if you want me too." Catherine said with a smirk.

Jackie burst out laughing.

"Thanks Catherine, I needed that." She said after she had finally quit laughing.

"No problem." Catherine said with a grin.

"But shouldn't you take Nick's side? I mean you are his coworker and all." Jackie said.

"Hell no, us women have to stick together."

Jackie laughed again. "Very true." She said with a smile.

"I'm going to go order a coffee, I'll be back in a minute." Catherine said as she stood up.

After she had gotten her drink she came back to Jackie's table.

"Jackie I'm sorry but I better get going, I have to work tonight and I still have a couple of things to do before that." Catherine said with an apologetic look on her face.

"I hate to ask but could you give me a ride home?" Jackie asked.

"Of course."

"Thanks, I'm sorry you have to do that."

"It's no problem, it's just a couple blocks, and I have to drive by your house anyways." Catherine assured her.

Jackie grabbed her purse, folder, and her coffee and then the two women were out the door.

"Thanks again for giving me a ride." Jackie said as she fished her house key out of her purse after Catherine had pulled into Jackie's driveway.

"No problem, I'll see you later." Catherine said as Jackie got out of her car.

"Bye Cath." Jackie said.

"Bye Jackie, and don't forget about option B." Catherine said with a grin.

"I won't." Jackie said with a laugh and then she turned and walked up to her front door.

After she had gotten it unlocked she turned and gave Catherine one last wave, as Cath sat in her car watching her to make sure she got in safely. When Jackie walked in the door Nick was sitting on the couch.

"How'd you get home?" he asked.

"Catherine gave me a ride." Jackie said flatly.

"You called Catherine instead of calling me?" Nick asked sounding more hurt than angry.

"No I didn't call her, she just happened to be in the coffee shop so I asked her if she would give me a ride home." Jackie said.

She then started to walk out of the living room.

Nick sighed "Jackie wait." He said.

Jackie turned back around and looked at him.

"What?" she asked not really wanting to talk to Nick right now.

"Come here a minute." Nick said as he patted the seat next to him, indicating that he wanted her to come and sit down.

She sighed but went and sat down.

"Listen Jackie, I'm sorry for what I said, you were right, I had absolutely no right to call you a workaholic. It's just that I was really looking forward to this evening, but that is no excuse and I truly am sorry."

She gave him a slight smile.

"I appreciate that, and I accept your apology, and I'm sorry too." She said.

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything." Nick said.

"I'm sorry for the hurtful things I said, and for ruining our evening."

"That's alright, you were just justifiably upset." He said as he wrapped his arm around her.

She sighed "Look Nicky, in a marriage the kids come first, then the couple's relationship, and then their jobs, but our jobs are so demanding that they often come before our relationship, not intentionally but it happens, we've got to change that. I'm willing to work really hard at putting _us_ at number two and our jobs at number three if you are."

"I'm more than willing." He said.

"Good." She said with a smile.

He smiled back and grabbed her hand. "So we're ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're ok." She answered.

She sat there with him for a couple more minutes and then she got up off the couch.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Upstairs, I have to get these shoes off, they're killing me, and while I'm at it I might as well take this dress off." She said.

He nodded.

She was on the second step before she turned back around to face Nick.

"Hey Nicky, I might need some help getting this dress off." She said with a sexy tone in her voice and a seductive smile on her face.

Nick got up off the couch so fast he nearly fell over.

Before either of them knew it, her black dress was on the floor, along with every other item of clothing she had been wearing, Nick's clothes were in a heap right next to hers. He picked her up and tossed her lightly on the bed and then began to devour her lips.

"Oh God." She moaned softly as his lips moved to her neck.

"Oh you like that do you?" he asked with a Texas sized smile on his face.

"No, I mean yes, but that's not why I said it."

"Then what is it?" he asked as he stopped kissing her.

"We forgot to pick up the kids from my parents house." She said.

"Oops." He said quietly as he realized she was right.

"Oh my God we are horrible parents." Jackie said as she scrambled out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans out of the closet.

"No we're not." He assured her as he too hurriedly got dressed.

"Nick, we forgot our own children, I'm pretty sure that's the definition of horrible parents." She said as she put on a pair of tennis shoes.

Nick just smiled as he slipped on a t-shirt.

Pretty soon they were out the door. When they arrived at her parent's house she knocked on the door. Her mom answered.

"Hi, how was your evening?" she asked.

"It was nice." Jackie answered.

"That's good." Her mom said and then she looked at her daughter and son in law's clothing.

"What?" Jackie asked as she noticed the look on her mom's face.

"Oh nothing, it's just that you told me you were excited about getting all dressed up for dinner at a fancy restaurant so I'm a little surprised by your outfits. What happened, did you change your minds and just go somewhere casual?" she asked as she looked at Jackie.

"No we didn't change our minds, we did get dressed up and go to a nice restaurant but my high heels made my feet hurt so we went home and changed our clothes before we came and got the kids, that's why we are a little late. Sorry about that by the way, I was going to call but it was late and I know dad works in the morning so I didn't want to wake him." Jackie said.

"Oh, don't worry about it, the kids have been asleep for quite a while now anyways, and I'm actually glad you didn't call because you probably would have woke your dad."

"Thanks." Jackie said.

She felt bad about lying to her mother but she didn't want her mother to know the real reason she and Nick were late picking up the kids, that would be really embarrassing. Jackie looked at Nick and gave him a slight smile, she noticed his face was just a little bit red but he smiled back.

"The kiddos are upstairs." Her mom said, unaware of the smile shared between the couple.

Jasmine and Houston spent so much time at her parents' house that they had their own bedrooms there. Nick and Jackie went upstairs.

"You get the baby, I'll get Jasmine." Nick said in the upstairs hallway.

She nodded and went into Houston's room. She picked the baby up and smiled at him because he just continued to saw logs, completely unaware of what was happening.

Jasmine however did wake up, at least partially.

"Hi dada." She said sleepily with a cute little smile on her face as one of her eyes opened when Nick picked her up.

"Hi angel." Nick whispered with a smile of his own.

Jasmine immediately fell back asleep with her head resting on Nick's shoulder. He carried her downstairs, Jackie was already down there with the baby waiting for him. Jackie grabbed the baby's diaper bag and then turned to her mother.

"Thanks again mom." She whispered and then the happy family headed home.

Once they had gotten home and they had put the kids to bed Nick and Jackie got ready for bed themselves.

"Hey, what do you say we finish what we started earlier?" he asked with a grin as he leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"Rain check?" she asked.

He stuck out his bottom lip in a pouting motion.

"I'm tired." She said with a little smile as she stared at his lip.

"Alright." He said giving up.

She smiled and then she laid her head on his arm.

"You know what Jackie. We should fight more often." He said with a grin.

"Why?" she asked him thinking he was completely crazy.

His grin got bigger "Because what people say about make up sex is true, it's pretty damn good, at least it would have been had we been able to finish." He said.

"Oh for Pete sake." She said with a shake of her head and a little smile as she slapped his side.

He laughed.

"Goodnight hon." He said as he leaned over and gave her a loving peck on the check.

"Goodnight Nicky." She said before falling asleep in his arms.

The End! Thanks for reading, and remember I love reviews!


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